player-suggested mini-event: A STRANGER'S BED

[riverviewmod]

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: Player-Suggested Mini-Event
when: August 26th - August 31st
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

a stranger's bed

As a lead in to September, Riverview's ♥ Month of Romance, this is a completely optional mingle that will cause affected characters to end up in each other's beds. There are various options for both established and new CR. While it's easiest for characters still living in Communal Housing, anyone who has moved to their own homes can be affected and end up finding their way to Communal Housing, or within their own housing.

Residents of the Quarantine may notice that various businesses selling food and drink - cafés, diners, bakeries, restaurants, and other such establishments - are heavily advertising a new flavor that's supposed to be the biggest thing since pumpkin spice. A flavor additive that's said to subtly change the flavor of whatever the diner is eating or drinking to optimize the dish, drink, dessert, or any other food item it is added to for each person's individual taste, it's been selling like wildfire and is the latest trend.

After the cause of the rash of amnesia was revealed to be plant-related, sellers are keeping the origin of the secret ingredient very close to their chests, since it is a derivative of a recently-discovered plant dubbed chameleonis. Depending on the method of ingestion, this additive can have a variety of unexpected side effects, but only once the person who has ingested it becomes sleepy. Methods of ingestion include:

● Ingestion: Beverage: When ingested as a flavor shot to drinks ranging from sodas to coffee to alcoholic beverages, it can cause a desire for closeness to a particular other person. Affected characters end up crawling into bed with that specific other character when they become sleepy.

● Ingestion: Food: When ingested as a flavoring added to a baked good or other meal, it can cause an intense desire for body heat when the character becomes drowsy. It won't matter to an affected character who is providing the body heat, so long as it's someone, and they will end up sleepily crawling into someone else's bed for warmth.

● Inhalation: When inhaled ether from a steaming hot beverage or soup, or as an essential oil or aroma from a bakery, it can cause disorientation when a character becomes sleepy. Affected characters either aren't sure which bed is theirs and simply crawl into the closest one, occupied or not, or become convinced that another character's bed is their own.

Feel free to post up a top-level for your own character either affected and invading a random bed or unaffected but open to having their bed invaded by affected characters, or tag around to other people's top-levels.

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Comments

[lionunchained]

[Uuuuh... okay. As Keith scooted over in the spot he had moved out of, Shiro's brow furrowed. Wasn't like this was something normal to happen. Shiro reached over with his left hand, putting the back of his hand against Keith's forehead, wondering if he was sick and just hadn't told him.

No, he didn't feel hot. So he wasn't sick. So... what had prompted this?

After a few moments, he decides not to wake Keith (if he hadn't already) and let him sleep there with him. So he laid back down to try and go back to sleep]

[tempredmental]

[Keith was peripherally aware of things going on around him, but everything felt warm and comfy and safe, so he was just going to settle nicely into that feeling. He stayed there for a while, actually, until the effects of whatever it was he had inhaled a whiff of finally wore off.

That was when his brain registered that something about this situation was Not Right (TM). Keith pushed himself awake, slowly blinking his eyes open, and then stared for a moment at Shiro.

Click.

His eyes widened in his shock, and he sat up like a jack-in-the-box.]

Shiro! What-? I... How did I get here?

[lionunchained]

[Shiro had slept there, Keith practically snuggled up against him. He was a fairly light sleeper, but it was a sound sleep as much as possible...

Until Keith suddenly sat bolt up right and blurted out his name. Shiro blinked quickly, trying to not fall off the bed from the sudden movement. Geeze... he hadn't really needed to shout it]

I don't know. You just wandered in, climbed into bed with me and went to sleep. You were out of it so I just let you stay.

[Right, like he's going to kick Keith out... any of the other paladins, but since Keith is the only one here]

[tempredmental]

I uh... I'm... sorry.

[Keith was definitely confused and kind of upset. He'd gotten Nico in his bed... and Lola... and now he was here. Though, he'd ended up in Hana's bed the other night...]

Something weird is going on...

[He shifted, sitting on the edge of the bed now.]

[lionunchained]

You don't have to apologize.

[Really, like Shiro cared. He wouldn't have complained for any of the paladins randomly joining him. If he really had cared, he would have woken Keith... or moved to one of the empty beds.

As Keith sat up sitting on the edge of the bed, Shiro sat up as well, putting his hand on Keith's shoulder]

So this happened before?

[tempredmental]

Yeah... and a few others have been in with me.

[He frowned, trying to think about this. What was new? What was new that would affect so many people?]

That stupid new spice... whatever it is... flavoring thing.

[lionunchained]

That's not something that happens every day.

[He knew the fact something was messing with him had to be bothering Keith. He liked to be in control]

You think that could be doing something?

[tempredmental]

It's the only new thing that seems to match up with the timing.

[Keith frowned.]

I don't know what else it could be... unless there's another new thing we haven't noticed, yet.

[lionunchained]

Then I think for the moment, we will have to assume that it. Perhaps trying to avoid will let us see if that has an effect on this.

I'd say it seems odd that a spice could do that, but at the same time that seems par for the course here.

[tempredmental]

Considering some pollen managed to wipe out three years worth of my memories? Yeah... I'd say it's par for the course.

[Nope... Keith wasn't bitter. What made you think that?]

Still, though... it seems like that stupid stuff was involved in everything. Someone tried the new tea, ate a doughnut, got sprayed with perfume. Pretty sure that's it. Some person in one of the stores tried to get me to try it in some new cologne they had, and I got a good sniff of it. Maybe that was it.

[lionunchained]

[Shiro doesn't blame him for being bitter about that. It had freaked him out seeing the changes, it had practically hurt getting them back, and then the rest of the things the tea had done. Besides, just the knowledge that the plants here could do something like that to you. He had every right to be bitter]

Whatever is in the food is also in the perfume? If that's the case then I'd say there's not really much else it could be, if that's the only common factor.

[tempredmental]

If even just smelling it makes things happen, I have no idea how to avoid having this happen again. [Keith frowned. Heck, perfume was one thing and could be avoided if the sample giver didn't just assume it was okay and spray you in the face with it. But avoiding the smells of food with the spice in question? That would be almost impossible.]

This is going to be a long pumpkin spice season, isn't it?

[Because that was the nearest approximation Keith could think of.]

[lionunchained]

Well, geeze with a perfume that's hard to avoid. Anyone walking by could affect someone with this. [Somehow he's been lucky, not ending up in someone else's bed]

Seems like it.

[tempredmental]

Yeah... and really awkward.

[He sighed.]

Sorry for waking you up...

[He'd seen Shiro a few times during late nights in the Castle. He knew he didn't sleep well.]

[lionunchained]

No, it's okay, really.

[Yes, he had trouble sleeping, but only part of it was his issues from the year on the Galra ship. If he really was tired, he could fall asleep literally anywhere. Staying asleep was the problem, but if it wasn't nightmare related, he could usually get back to sleep. The other part was wanting to make sure the other paladins were all right so this fell into that category]

If you want to stay, you can.

[tempredmental]

[Keith honestly debated it. He was still pretty tired, and the prospect of heading all the way back down to the second floor from the fifteenth seemed troublesome, even if there was an elevator involved. It was likely that it was still a lingering effect of whatever it was he had breathed in, but it was really compelling to stay.]

You sure?

[lionunchained]

[Shiro just shrugged at Keith's question]

I don't have a problem with it.

[His ego was not easily damaged that he'd push a teammate out when he had something going on where he wanted to be near someone. If he'd had this issue, he would have moved Keith out of his bed before he'd even woken up]

[tempredmental]

[Keith quirked an eyebrow, and then smiled just a bit.]

Alright...

[Yeah... probably a lingering effect, but it still seemed like a good idea at the moment. He settled back down.]

[lionunchained]

[Shiro moved back to a comfortable position so that Keith would be able to lay down next to him. The bed was kind of narrow, but not uncomfortably so. It was a little strange, but having Keith nearby was a comfort for (though this nearby was not what he usually thought of) and it would obviously make Keith feel a little better]

[tempredmental]

[Keith settled down next to Shiro, pulling the blanket over himself. It was comfortable, and whatever this effect was on him, it definitely felt better to be here than by himself downstairs. So, eventually, he drifted back to sleep.]